Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Trading Up 0.7%

Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) shot up 0.7% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $91.94 and last traded at $90.95. 616,629 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 3,560,149 shares. The stock had previously closed at $90.34.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on EW shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Citigroup raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $98.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Wednesday. OTR Global raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “mixed” rating to a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Barclays increased their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.31.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $54.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $89.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 3.75.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 23.01%. Sell-side analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian bought 580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $85.74 per share, for a total transaction of $49,729.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $280,198.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian acquired 580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $85.74 per share, for a total transaction of $49,729.20. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $280,198.32. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.89, for a total value of $688,426.95. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,809,931.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 183,765 shares of company stock valued at $16,302,725 in the last 90 days. 1.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Martin Capital Advisors LLP raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Martin Capital Advisors LLP now owns 25,490 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,944,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 16,958 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,293,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1.7% in the first quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 8,548 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $817,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 771 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 6.0% in the first quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 2,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Company Profile

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation provides products and technologies for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring in the United States, Europe, Japan, and internationally. It offers transcatheter heart valve replacement products for the minimally invasive replacement of aortic heart valves under the Edwards SAPIEN family of valves system; and transcatheter heart valve repair and replacement products to treat mitral and tricuspid valve diseases under the PASCAL PRECISION and Cardioband names.